I had a chance to play the Avengers tester at Gameworks too this week.

It sure was pretty! I like the silver art on the sides. It's very well done, very *modern* compared to the art style on X-Men. Seemed like the box art you see on newer PS3 and 360 games. The art is terrific. Looks almost holographic in the center. As far as art is concerned, its basically fantastic.

The gameplay? It felt like it could use a slight redesign, either that or the machine needs to be screwed together again? I mean it *is* a test machine. Zach Sharpe had put up a high score on it by the time I got there.

Basically the game has a shot for each Avenger. When others say they are tight shots, that's definitely true. As a fairly new player (I started playing 9 months ago), I had issues starting modes; I was only able to start one or two across 4-5 credits.

The sound is great; I loved all the humor in the callouts, especially during the bonus. I don't take the Avengers too seriously, and it was nice to play a game that didn't take them seriously either IMO. To each his or her own.

The Hulk area is confusing. I still don't quite understand how its supposed to work. I think you have to knock down the drop targets and then hit the hulk saucer next to it - I think that's how I started hulk multiball. Or did I have to hit hulk? The hulk saucer was kinda disconcerting - there was no eject shield under the saucer. Instead, there was just an open hole and you could see straight under the play field. When the kicker hit it, it launched the ball *up* the playfield instead of down, which was awkward - sometimes the ball would just drop back in the saucer. It was a fit and finish thing that made me scratch my head a bit.

I found the Black Widow shot to be disappointing. Basically its this tight turn ramp in the middle of the playfield with a spinner mounted on it. If you don't hit the ramp exactly right, the ball comes back. I think mounting the spinner on it is part of the problem - the spinner slows down the ball as it begins to turn the ramp corner. And the mode it gives you (Black Widow Fast Scoring) seemed kinda enh for all the work you had to do to get there. Black Widow's hotness did not translate to the mode.

TBH, this game feels like it needs a bit more work before its ready. But it sure was fun, I'll say that. If I had the 8K to throw down for it, I would be proud of it. But it definitely felt like a tester, something that was an initial production model that would be need to be tweaked and improved. If I owned it, I would probably have tried to screw it back together or move a few things around - change the type of posts on the shots or something like that.

Some other posters said that the X-Men and TF next to it at Gameworks were more fun, and I sadly have to agree with their assessment. But it is a tester; hopefully the next ones that come out work a bit more seamlessly.